Lappas made his first stage appearance in 1903, as a member of the children's chorus in "Carmen" at the Zizinia opera house. Due to his social position the boy attended the Averoff High School and the aristocratic Victoria College, in Alexandria. It seems that he was an indifferent student and was interested only in singing. Gianni Galetti, the director of the International Conservatory in Alexandria persuaded Lappas father to let him take lessons in singing and enrolled him in the conservatory.

From 1905 he started singing in charity concerts and Galetti recommended to continue his studies abroad. In spite that his father was well-off he did not approve his son's artistic fancies and it was a literary society "Aeschylus" that provided the funds for two years of studies abroad.

In May 1912 Ulysses Lappas left for Milan where he studied for two years with Pidorno and Mandolini (who had four years before a young tenor called Giovanni Martinelli as his singing student).

Lappas official debut took place on 2 february 1914 as Enzo Grimaldo in Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" at the Teatro Dal Verme, in Milano. His first review read: "The tenor Lappas, appearing for the first time, possesses exceptional gifts, which will soon raise him from the ranks ; he has, above all, a beautiful, fresh voice, with a superb timbre and flexibility, as well as good, clear articulation...."

To avoid unnecessary repetitions we remit the reader to the List of Performances.

We will point out only the highlights of his distinguished career:

In February 1915 the debut at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, in "La Gioconda". In 1916 he sings the role of Lefévre in "Madame Sans-Gene" at the Teatro Grande in Brescia, with Claudia Muzio in the title role. In march 1917 he makes his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milano in the role of Ibetto, in the world première of "Il Macigno" an opera by Victor de Sabata. In april 1918 he sings for the first time in the Grand-Théatre of Montecarlo and his long association with this theater will last for 12 seasons until 1951.

In 1919 he makes his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London in "Tosca". Another theater where he will return for several seasons. In 1921 he sings for the first time a German role, Parsifal in Wagner's opera, in Montecarlo. I assume he sang it either in Italian or in French. In 1922 he is engaged to sing in America for the first time, at the Chicago Opera, making his debut with "La Fanciulla del West" and singing for the first time in French, the role of Julien in "Louise" with Mary Garden in the leading role (He had already sung the role in 1916 but in Italian).

In 1923 he had the opportunity to undertake a new role, Marco Gratico in Montemezzi's "La Nave" in Verona.

At last, in 1928, ha was invited to sing at La Scala in a repertory opera, singing Canio in "Pagliacci". He shared the role with Aureliano Pertile.

In 1931 he sings for the first time the role of Paolo Malatesta in "Francesca da Rimini" by Zandonai, at the Teatro Verdi, in Trieste.

In 1932 there is another new role for him, Lionetto in "Gloria" by Cilea, at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. The following year, 1933, is the leading figure in "Don Carlos" by Verdi, at the Covent Garden in London and Bacchus in "Ariadne auf Naxos" by Richard Strauss at the Casinó Opera in San Remo. Again, I think he must have sung it in Italian as was the custom of those times.

In 1935 he returned to La Scala for the last time, to create the leading role in the world première of "Don Giovanni" a new opera by Felice Lattuada. That year marks the end of Ulysses Lappas international career though he still sang in Monte Carlo in 1950 and 1951.

We cannot but wonder how quick and ascending was his career: only one year after his debut he was singing in Rome and two years later he was debuting at La Scala and in times where the supply of great tenors seemed inexhaustive. Perhaps his Alexandrian finesse and aristocratic demeanour, had something to do with it...of course in addition to his voice quality.

He had a noble bearing and a somewhat affected elegance. He, deliberately, created his own public image: a dandy, a snob, a society man, always surrounded by a small "court" of admirers. He used to wear and display the eight medals he had been bestowed, very early in his career. Among them the Saviour's Cross of Greece, the Palmes Academiques de France and the Order of Danilo III of Montenegro.

He married three times. In 1917 to a lady whose name has been lost in the past but who gave Lappas his only son, Pericles born in 1918. In 1929 he married his second wife Sophia Papavramopoulou-Tsiklitira and took her in honeymoon to Venice and Monte Carlo, and then to the United States where he tried unsuccessfully to recover his savings from the great crash. After four years of marriage, they divorced in 1933. In 1937 he married, for the third time, to a certain M. Cool to whom he divorced in 1950.

The war and the German occupation confined Ulysses Lappas to Greece. There he lost what remained of his fortune due to the inflation in Greece during the occupation.

After the war, in 1951, he was appointed director of the National Lyric Theatre in Athens. He was a gambler, always in debt, spending more than he earned but also a very generous man, supporting with his own money many short-lived opera companies in Greece. Being ruined, in 1952 the Greek Government gave him a monthly pension and appointed him Master of Ceremonies of the National Lyric Theatre.

Ulysses Lappas died a poor man, at the Evanghelian Hospital, Athens, in July 26, 1971 of heart failure.

In 1920 Ulysses Lappas signed a contract with Columbia to make 10 records. He made the first two immediately but the collaboration was later interrupted due to his own fault. The eight remaining records were made four years later. In the electrical process Lappas recorded several Greek songs.

See: Lappas Chronological List of Appearances [pdf]